EAA/ANN AirVenture Innovation Preview

Small Business Owners Invited To Submit Comments Before
4/2/07

After receiving requests from the Small Business Administration
regarding proposed changes to the regulations affecting how
production parts are approved for entry into service, the FAA
Friday agreed to extend the comment period on its Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) until April 2.

From the Notice:

On October 5, 2006, the FAA issued a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) entitled, Production and Airworthiness Approvals,
Parts Marking, and Miscellaneous Proposals (71 FR 58915). The
original, extended comment period for this NPRM closed on February
5, 2007.

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, on
behalf of small businesses that may be adversely affected by the
proposed rulemaking, asked the agency to allow additional time for
small businesses to comment on the Initial Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis associated with the NPRM. The analysis examines whether
the proposed rulemaking would have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) establishes "as a
principle of regulatory issuance that agencies shall endeavor,
consistent with the objective of the rule and of applicable
statutes, to fit regulatory and informational requirements to the
scale of the business, organizations, and governmental
jurisdictions subject to regulation." To achieve that principle,
the Act requires agencies to solicit and consider flexible
regulatory proposals and to explain the rationale for their
actions.

The Act covers a wide range of small entities, including small
businesses, not-for-profit organizations and small governmental
jurisdictions.

Agencies must perform a review to determine whether a proposed
or final rule would have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. If the determination is that
it would, the agency must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis
as described in the Act.

However, if an agency determines that a proposed or final rule
is not expected to have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities, section 605(b) of the RFA
provides that the head of the agency may so certify and a
regulatory flexibility analysis is not required. The certification
must include a statement providing the factual basis for this
determination.

So, attention small aircraft shops... if the NPRM is going to
hurt your operations, NOW is the time to tell the FAA how you feel
about that...